A TOTAL Monkeys paw of a movie, after spending the last 4 installments of this franchise BEGGING…BEGGING for the production office at hammer to drag their franchises kicking and screaming into the 70s, they grant my wish…But with the cruel twist of fate being that they decide to center the entire film around 70s youth culture…and the average age of people involved in this film was 86…I sincerely believe noone involved in the production of this film had ever met anyone under the age of 65.

‘Dracula A.D. 1972’ is a break from the ongoing plotting of ‘Dracula’. Indeed, its seemingly intended as something of a ‘Final Chapter’ given the text crawl at the end of the movie, and I for one could NOT be more conflicted about the end result of this film if I tried…

The plot opens in London in 1872, and sees Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing reunited for the first time since ‘Horror of Dracula’ AS Dracula and Van Hellsing. During a fight on top of a freerunning Horse and carriage, a calamitous crash ends the life of both the count and his slayer. However, one of Draculas servents is on the scene, and collects remnants of the count for later usage.

Post burial, we jump forward to the hip and happening times of London 1972. and the kids are certainly bopping up a jive daddio to this new funkadelic sound of the revoution y’dig?! (I’ll…I’ll stop now…)

We’re introduced to a group of friends led by ‘Johnny Alucard’ a rebellious youth whos appearence to Malcolm McDowell is downright uncanny (absolutely intentional given this came out a year after ‘A Clockwork Orange’) Alucard is always looking for thrills and decides it would be really ‘hip’ and ‘happening’ to do a ‘Black Mass’ just to see what would happen.

The gang are largely on board, but one of them Jessica, is somewhat reluctant. It’s revealed that Jessica is a Van Hellsing, a descendent of Dracula’s Slayer. And her grandfather is a believer and studier of the occult (played ALSO by Peter Cushing!)

Anyway; the gang do the rituals and Alucard (probably intentionally) ressurects Dracula, who almost immediately bites Alucard AND a willing member of the friend group who opted in on the ritual while the others fled in fear. turning the pair into deciples, with the rest of the film being Johnny slowly trying to convert the rest of the friend group to vampirism, with both Johnny AND Draculas eyes firmly on Jessica as the big prize.

And so! with the help of the met police, Jessica and her Grandfather must team up to fight the forces of evil once more and FINALLY lay Dracula to rest.

And honestly? I was kind of blown away with this one, I had the priviladge of seeing it at the theater many MANY years ago and thought it was absolutely nuts back then, and my feelings havent really changed with time. My biggest issue with it is simply that it doesnt really pick a lane, its trying to be an ultra campy, border pastiche of the films that came before it. While also genuinely being a quite well made contemporary (to 1972) horror film. The two things cant really co-exist. You cant really simultaineously be a ‘so bad its good’ campy over the top hamtastic mess of a movie thats actually really well made, refreshing and entertaining…But thats what this movies doing, and it makes me kind of love and hate it in equal measures.

For a starters, the script is all OVER the place. A hot mess in all the best ways. while the story is pretty simplistic. it’s effective in its storytelling ability and very much feels like a sincere attempt to try and modernise Hammer for young adult audiences, after coasting on the fumes of the early 60s for the better part of a decade. Unfortunately (and as mentioned) this thing has been written and produced by a group of elderly people who clearly havent ever met a young person after 1958. Which means all the dialogue is INCREDIBLY cringey, awkward and reads like an 80 year old guy trying to write a teenager…Not helped by the casting decision to make all these ‘late teen/early 20 somethings’ AT LEAST 30-35 years old.

It creates such a weird texture to what is ultimatley a really well paced and entertaining little film. adding a layer of awkwardness that this thing really didnt need. The more I think about this film, the more it feels to me like a kind of ‘self aware’ parody of a Dracula movies…an almost peevish attempt on the part of the production company to say ‘SEE! SEE! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ASK FOR ‘MODERN DRACULA’ MOVIES! LOOK HOW RUBBISH IT IS!’ and then when the audience respond with semi confusion and hilarity, they just kind of grumbled and shrunk away to plan…I dunno…’Frankenstein 27′ or whatever it was they were working on at that point.

Its plotting is all over the place with multiple strands ranging from Peter Cushing working with the police to figure out exactly why people keep turning up with bite marks, completely drained of blood. Jessicas plot of slowly realising Johnny is a dangerous man and trying to figure out the best way to stop him/save her friends/save herself. Johnnys plot of working with Dracula to get more servents. Draculas plot of trying to get Jessica. its all over the place, but in the right mindset, I could easily see this being a very enjoyable time.

What I really love about this movie is the direction and cine. the brief of ‘bring Hammer into the 70s’ hits this film like opening a window in a room full of stale farts. crisp, clear, creative direction that really brings to life the rebuilding of early 70s london and its surrounding club and parklife are brought into reality in sizzling colour. This film looks incredible and is a veritable time capsule of fashion from the time. If nothing else, the film simply existing and looking as engaging and interesting as it does is enough to easily put this one in the top 3 Dracula movies made by Hammer.

We also have some extroadinary lighting work here, coloured gels are used heavily and stylish and richly detailed set designs for the church’s and nightclubs featured throughout are welcome and visually appealing. Theres some gorgeous shots and sequence work pleasent here that really help bring things front and center. some LOVELY depth of field work. This is probably the first Dracula movie since ‘Brides of Dracula’ that i’ve seen where I feel confident in saying that its visual style and identity are almost as distinct and original as the first film. a genuinely enjoyable watch.

Only helped by some pretty decent performances too! again we’re swinging the pendulum wildly between ‘Campy fun’ and ‘Actually pretty solid performance. On the one side, Lee, Cushing and Stephanie Beacham are probably at the franchises best here in their respective roles. they’re really trying to bring some of their best to the roles here and it pays off, with arguably some of the best Dracula and Van Hellsing moments of the entire franchise. and solid retuning turns for Lee and Cushing in particular.

On the other end though we have (Not) Malcolm McDowell Christopher Neame as Johnny Alucard, a campy, snooty sort who has just the right level of slime to make him really stand out as a proper ‘baddie’ of this era. Im still not entirely sure if I like his performance here or not. But he brings a campy presence in his turn that did ensure I stayed firmly glued to my set for the full duration. the majority of the ‘youths’ in the supporting cast too all do varying levels of camp ranging from overly dramatic death sequences right through to just pretending they’re members of Monty Python…it garners mixed results from me ranging from pleasently watchable to irritating.

AND FINALLY! AFTER 3 FILMS OF THE SAME MONOTONOUS ORCHESTRAL DRONING…WE HAVE A NEW SOUNDTRACK STYLE! It’s funky 70s tastic soul and funk style and I absolutely loved it, intercut with some early synthy pieces. it really helped bring the film to life for me in the best possible way.

In either case, I didnt really lose with ‘Dracula AD 1972’ I was very much welcoming of the modernising of the technical aspects of the production, while also VERY much being there for the hammier stranger moments. Im VERY surprised that ‘Rifftrax’ havent got there hands on this one yet as I think it would be a perfect candidate. for the first time in a long time, i’d say this one was actually kind of underrated, and if the other ‘Dracula’ sequels have kind of put you off. this one may win you back a bit…I didnt outright LOVE it. But I really appreciated what it was trying to do.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/dracula-ad-1972/